Procycling brings you the colour, action and drama of the world's most spectacular sport in a glossy and dynamic magazine.
It's the authoritative, worldwide voice of international professional road racing, distributed in every country where there are English-speaking fans.
With exclusive features and spectacular photography, Procycling brings to life the complexities, rivalries and hardships of the European professional scene.

Cycling Plus is the manual for the modern road cyclist.
Whether you're cycling weekly, an occasional new rider or a Tour de France fan you’ll find everything you need.
Every issue is packed with expert reviews of the latest road bikes and gear, inspirational routes and rides, evocative features that take you inside every aspect of cycling and unmatched nutrition, fitness and training advice.

Mountain Biking UK celebrates everything that is great about mountain biking, enabling people of all abilities and ages to have a better time on their bike.
MBUK brings you all the latest news, coolest kit, plus exclusive info on the newest and best bikes that you can buy.

Complete guide to bottom brackets

Updated: What are the different BB standards and what are their advantages?

1 / 27

Custom builders – especially those specializing in steel, such as Ellis Cycles (shown here) – still continue with threaded shells because they're a more aesthetic fit with the surrounding tubes

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

2 / 27

Conventional threaded bottom brackets are still very popular, and for good reason. Canyon, for example, stuck with a threaded shell on its top-end Ultimate CF SLX road frame until 2012

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

3 / 27

Cervélo introduced the new BBright system on the R5ca, and while it offers some sound engineering advantages, other companies have been slow to adopt it

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

4 / 27

Cervélo's BBright shell can be used with a wide variety of cranksets

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

5 / 27

The BB386 EVO bottom bracket system actually uses the same cups as PressFit 30

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

6 / 27

FSA's new K-Force Light BB386 EVO crankset features a 30mm-diameter alloy spindle like on BB30 but with a longer length that's adaptable to more frames

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

7 / 27

One of BB386 EVO's biggest touted advantage is the ability to run monstrous tube profiles for extra stiffness

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

8 / 27

BB386 EVO cranks will work in conventional threaded shells with the right cups installed

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

9 / 27

PF86's wider shell allows the chainstays to be pushed further apart – a big advantage for 'cross bikes

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

10 / 27

Giant has long used the PF86/92 system for its higher-end frames

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

11 / 27

Numerous adaptors are available to convert from one bottom bracket system to another, but all-in-one units like this one from Praxis minimizes the number of parts and, thus, the chance of creaking. Praxis's BB/PF30-to-24mm conversion bottom bracket also incorporates a trick collet system that expands outward to firmly lock itself in the frame

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

12 / 27

The explosion of new bottom bracket standards has also required the introduction of new tools to go with them

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

13 / 27

Pivot Cycles uses the PF92 system because its designers want extra width for suspension pivots without sacrificing frame stiffness

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

14 / 27

Companies such as Wheels Manufacturing offer adaptors that allow a 24mm spindle to fit directly into a BB30 bottom bracket

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

15 / 27

Rotor is another company that has carved out a niche with a multitude of conversion bottom brackets. In general, the fewer parts, the better

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

16 / 27

Enduro not only makes bearings and fork seals. The company also offers tools such as this one to replace bottom bracket bearings

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

17 / 27

Specialized's OSBB system is nearly identical to PF30

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

18 / 27

BB30's larger 30mm-diameter spindle, compared to the standard 24mm size, allows the use of lighter aluminum

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

19 / 27

Frame designers like the PF30 system because the associated frames are lighter and less expensive to produce. All that's needed is a tube with the correct width and bore diameter

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

20 / 27

Proper BB30 bottom brackets require extensive and careful machining inside the shell in order to work properly - and quietly

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

21 / 27

Trek's BB90 system uses the same bearings and bearing locations as a conventional threaded system, but eliminates the cups entirely. Bearings are pressed directly into precision-molded carbon fiber seats

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

22 / 27

Trek also uses the direct press-in bottom bracket system on many of its mountain bikes. Here, though, it's called BB95 on account of the 5mm wider bearing spacing

(James Huang / Immediate Media)

23 / 27

SRAM's HammerSchmidt bottom bracket was designed around a threaded shell

It wasn't long ago that the only major bottom bracket decisions you had to make were shell width, spindle length, and, in rare cases, English (BSA) or Italian threading. These days, it can feel as though there as many 'standards' as there are bike brands, with every one of them supposedly being the best option. But fear not — read on for our complete guide to the various types of bottom bracket available.

Here's a rundown of each of the major bottom bracket systems currently available, along with advantages, disadvantages, notes on compatibility, and some input from their respective proponents on why they exist:

Conventional threaded

BB90/BB95

PF86/92

BB30

BB30A

PF30

BBright

BB386 EVO

T47

We've also included a section on how you can (or can't as the case may be) change between different bottom bracket standards and an explainer on why there are so many standards in the first place.

Conventional threaded

Modern, external cup threaded bottom brackets aren't exactly a new invention. In fact, their roots date back more than two decades to Craig Edwards' old Sweet Wings cranks and Alex Pong's groundbreaking Magic Motorcycle.

The idea is simple: by moving the bearings outboard of the shell, you can then use a much larger spindle.

Currently, 24mm is the accepted norm compared to square-taper's relatively miniscule 17mm diameter. External bottom brackets for 30mm spindles do exist, such as those from White Industries.

Shimano popularized the concept as Hollowtech II, with the introduction of the XTR M960 group in 2003 — even now it's still arguably the gold standard for bottom brackets. In fact, companies such as Santa Cruz continue to stand by it despite the plethora of other options.

Conventional threaded bottom brackets are still very popular, and for good reason. Canyon, for example, stuck with a threaded shell on its top-end Ultimate CF SLX road frame until 2012

"Threaded bottom brackets are compatible with the largest range of cranks [and] some press-in bottom brackets have a reputation for creaking," Santa Cruz global marketing manager Will Ockelton tells BikeRadar.

"Press-in bottom brackets require special tools, which most consumers don't have [and] they can only be installed a few times before it's recommended that you replace the bearings [or cups — ed.]. Most of our bikes come with ISCG tabs, but for the few that don't, a thread-in bottom bracket still allows for chain guide mounting."

"A threaded bottom bracket is great because it isolates the bearing from the frameset," adds Matt Harvey, president of bearing, seal and bottom bracket maker Enduro.

"Because you have aluminum threads and surfaces, you can face the shell with a cutter and make it parallel if it is not. The bearing bores are usually round already, with aluminum cups because it is a machined surface, and if the bearing bores are too tight you can sand them out and get the fit just right for the bearings before you thread them into the frame. You cannot use a facing or cutting tool that I know of in a carbon shell."

Pros: Easy at-home service; interface surfaces can often be machined; huge selection of parts and accessories

Aside from omitting the cups, the BB90/95 setup is functionally identical to conventional threaded bottom brackets, in that it uses the same bearings and the same bearing locations as before. Crankset compatibility is thus unchanged, although you do lose the ability to run chain guides that sandwich between the driveside cup and frame.

This system is not without its issues, with shells becoming oversized a relatively common problem (leading Trek to release the very slightly oversized V2 bearings to compensate).

Cons: Can't use cup-mounted chain guides; shell is wider but still small in diameter; requires a separate bearing puller and press for service

Crank designs that will fit: Standard 24mm external-type only. A GXP conversion kit is also available.

PF86/92

Very closely related to Trek's BB90/95 system is the PF86/92 standard used by Scott, Giant, Pivot, and many others.

Once again, the bearings and their locations are identical to those of conventional threaded bottom brackets, only they're mounted in small composite cups before being pressed into the frame.

The advantages are similar to those for Trek's BB90/95: a wider bottom bracket shell that doesn't otherwise affect crank width, plus lighter weight compared with threaded alloy cups.

From a manufacturing standpoint, PF86/92's dimensional tolerances aren't as stringent as BB90/95's, and it's easier to adapt the system into alloy frames. So long as you have a concentric bore of the right diameter, parallel faces, and a proper shell width, you're good to go.

PF86's wider shell allows the chainstays to be pushed further apart – a big advantage for 'cross bikes

"Because of this technology, we're able to improve pedalling stiffness [by about] 10% on some of our frames, over traditional threaded bottom brackets," says Giant global marketing director Andrew Juskaitis. "[PF86/92 is] less subject to tolerances, too, and is able to take up +/- 0.5mm of [shell width] discrepancy."

Scott US marketing and PR director Adrian Montgomery touts similar reasons for his company choosing BB86/92 over other standards:

"We can create frames with a wider bottom bracket shell, thus adding stiffness to the entire structure as the adjoining tubes can also be wider. We can do this without creating our own crank spindle standard because it adheres to the same spindle that a threaded BB uses. It's also lighter than a threaded BB because we've removed the alloy material that held the bearings outside the shell [and] it costs less to do a press-fit bottom bracket in regards to manufacturing. Disadvantages? None that I can see."

Pros: Same as BB90/95

Cons: Same as BB90/95

Crank designs that will fit: Standard 24mm external-type, BB386 EVO

BB30

Several companies have dabbled in alternative bottom bracket standards over the years (Gary Fisher, Klein, and Merlin, to name just three) but it wasn't until Cannondale released its then-proprietary BB30 system as an open standard in 2006 that something actually stuck.

BB30's bearing cartridges press directly into a precision-fit shell, as with Trek's BB90/95 system — albeit with the additional aid of two pairs of snap-rings/C-Clips.

But here it's the shell and spindle diameters that increase in size, not the shell width.

The key benefits are lighter weights owing to the larger, 30mm-diameter aluminum spindle and the elimination of separate bearing cups. Plus, because the shell is still just 68mm wide, the cranks can also be made to provide more heel clearance — or, depending on the crank design, an even a narrower stance width (commonly referred to as Q factor).

Proper BB30 bottom brackets require extensive and careful machining inside the shell in order to work properly – and quietly

"The idea was that, since Cannondale had control of both the frame and crank manufacturing, we could use system integration to design a superior solution, even if that meant not relying on a traditional industry standard," says Cannondale vice president of R&D, Chris Peck. "[Advantages are] a lighter and stiffer crank with the 30mm alloy spindle; more room in the bottom bracket area to attach larger down tubes, seat tubes, and chainstays; and very low bottom bracket weight."

"[Our] Hollowgram SiSL2 crank with SpideRing weighs 484g. By comparison, Dura-Ace 9000 weighs around 678g [we recorded 637g in our review – ed]. In addition to weight, another BB30 advantage is stiffness. By increasing the spindle diameter, you increase its resistance to twisting, which is where the bulk of the deflection in a crankset comes from. Roughly 70% of total deflection measured at the pedal comes from axle twist."

BB30 shells, however, do require more stringent dimensional tolerances to work well, meaning that they're more expensive to manufacture. Moreover, with the notable exception of Felt, which uses a carbon tube, BB30 also usually employs an alloy shell insert that has to be bonded or co-moulded into an otherwise carbon frame.

BB30A and BB30-83 Ai

More recently, Cannondale has announced a variant of BB30 called BB30A. This uses a shell that's 5mm wider than the original but it's an asymmetrical layout that only adds those extra millimetres on the non-driveside. According to Cannondale, this allows for wider bearing spacing and better spindle support (which should improve bearing longevity).

Other critical dimensions, such as bearing outer diameter and thickness, remain unchanged and there's also no difference in pedal stance width or ankle clearance (in most cases).

That extra 5mm can complicate crank compatibility, however. BB30-compatible cranks that feature axle spacers on the non-driveside (such as from Cannondale and SRAM) will work just fine because all you'll have to do is remove spacers as needed to accommodate the extra width, but BB30 cranks without such spacers (such as from FSA and Specialized) won't work.

Thankfully, many newer BB30-compatible cranks now feature extra-long spindles for wider compatibility and those will install just fine.

The new Cannondale SuperX uses the brands BB30-83 Ai standard

Cannondale also recently introduced another bottom bracket standard in the form of BB30-83 Ai.

First used on the brand's new SuperX 'cross bike, the new standard works in exactly the same way as BB30A, but sees the shell ballooned out to 83mm wide, improving tyre clearance and, supposedly, stiffness.

Cons: Metal-on-metal interfaces can be prone to creaking; requires a separate bearing puller and press for service; requires high manufacturing tolerances; bearing seats can't easily be faced post-manufacturing; not all BB30 cranks will fit

PF30 and OSBB

SRAM addressed BB30's stringent dimensional tolerances and associated manufacturing costs with the advent of PressFit 30 in 2009. Just as with PF86/92, PF30 is analogous to BB30 in that the bearings and bearing locations are identical, but with the addition of intermediary composite cups that allow for looser frame tolerances.

Not surprisingly, then, PF30 has gained widespread traction in the industry, particularly with smaller manufacturers who can't afford high reject rates.

"I think it's more about the simplicity of the manufacturing process," says Drew Guldalian of Pennsylvania-based custom builder Engin Cycles. "Boring out a [standard] BB30 is not impossible, but in my opinion it's an unrealistic task from a manufacturer's standpoint that needs to do something to make money.

"With the PressFit 30, they're using the same technology with the larger bearings and the same technology with the bearings living inside the frame, but they're utilizing the nylon to their advantage where you have a more realistic tolerance."

"PressFit 30 fundamentally provides all the most significant advantages of BB30 but requires much less precise machining of the bottom bracket shell area, as the bearings come inserted into plastic cups that are easier to fit into the frame and less delicate than standalone bearing," adds SRAM drivetrain product manager Chris Hilton. "PF30 bottom brackets also have an integrated sealing system, which helps prolong bearing life."

Specialized's OSBB system is nearly identical to BB/PF30 but with a few key differences, according to the company's director of advanced research, Chris D'Aluisio.

BB30's larger 30mm-diameter spindle, compared to the standard 24mm size, allows the use of lighter alloy

"The 30mm bearing is a good choice when using thinwall aluminum spindles," he says, "and the narrow bearing stance (relative to outboard bearings) works perfectly with our carbon arm design needing to make the turn into the spindle. The OSBB is basically the same as BB30 but with a little tighter tolerances and a 0.5mm difference in the clip-to-clip dimension. Cranks of both systems are compatible with each other."

"The tolerances are not too different but the way they're measured is. They both have the same needs for concentricity and placement relative to the frame. The threads are at a disadvantage in that they need to be machined from both sides and have a hard time sharing a centerline, whereas our OSBB is machined from one side all at once — and round holes are easy to measure."

Pros: Same as BB30 but with lower costs, easier assembly, and the potential for additional bearing seals integrated into the cup/bearing assembly

Cons: Standard-width shell; requires a separate cup remover and press for service

BBright

Up until now, all these bottom bracket fitments incorporate bearings that are symmetrically positioned about the frame's centerline. Cervélo tipped that apple cart in 2010, however, with the introduction of BBright.

However, the non-driveside bearing is pushed outward by 11mm – the same as conventional threaded, BB90, and PF86 bottom brackets. This makes it something of a hybrid between the two widely accepted systems.

Cervélo introduced the new BBright system on the R5ca, and while it offers some sound engineering advantages, other companies have been slow to adopt it

"BBright uses the 11mm space occupied by an external bottom bracket’s left bearing cup to let the designer widen the frame tubes that connect to the bottom bracket shell: down tube, left chainstay and seat tube," says Cervélo race engineer Damon Rinard. "All these can be 11mm wider now. In the case of the chainstay, that’s nearly double the width at an important and highly loaded point — the junction with the bottom bracket — which has a several-fold beneficial effect on stiffness."

"The resulting increase in moment of inertia has gained us so much stiffness and strength that the left chainstay weighs less than the right, despite being stiffer and stronger," he continues. "Because stiffening either chainstay stiffens the frame, the net result is a substantial increase in the frame’s bottom bracket stiffness, together with a small reduction in frame weight."

"This performance boost comes with no other changes to basic dimensions: the left bearing stays in the same spot; the aluminum cup is simply replaced with carbon frame now. And since the bearing’s in the same spot, the lateral position of the left crank isn’t changed at all, so Q-factor is also unchanged. Your feet are in exactly the same place as before."

From the outset, Cervélo introduced BBright as an open standard that anyone could jump onto. While it seems to make good engineering sense, however, other bike companies have been slow to come on board.

Pros: Stiffer than BB/PF30, in theory, without impacting other attributes; good crank compatibility, cheaper to manufacture than threaded or BB30

Cons: Questionable longevity; requires a separate cup remover and press for service

BB386EVO

BB386EVO, introduced in 2011, takes the oversized principle to extremes. The bearings have the same nominal spacing, width-wise, as conventional threaded, BB90/95, and PF86/92 formats, but it uses BB/PF30's bigger 30mm diameter spindle.

As stiffness is directly tied to cross-sectional size it's no surprise that, theoretically, BB386 EVO has the most to offer, with both the added shell width and diameter that many frame-makers yearn for.

In addition, it uses the same bearings and cups as PF30 and BBright and, thus, the same manufacturing tolerances and required tools.

The BB386 EVO bottom bracket system actually uses the same cups as PressFit 30

"[BB386 EVO] allows us to go wider, which in turn opens up big opportunities in terms of stiffness and strength in the bottom bracket/chainstay area," says BH president and CEO Chris Cocalis (Cocalis holds the same position with Pivot Cycles, whose frames are built around the more mountain bike-friendly PF92 format). "With bigger cross-sections driving stiffness, we also have more flexibility in being able to tune ride quality with the carbon layup."

"For us, there are no disadvantages versus a threaded design or a standard BB30. We are able to have a full carbon shell with no metal bonded into the frame, which makes for a stronger, lighter frame structure.

"With our manufacturing methods, we also have no issues holding tolerances. [BB386 EVO] wasn’t designed as a cost reduction, but not having to post bond an aluminum shell into the frame and make sure the facing and threads are correct is slightly less expensive and much more reliable."

Crank compatibility is another BB386 EVO strongpoint. Despite the bulbous dimensions, the shell will accept most modern crankset fitments save for dedicated BB30/PF30 and BBright designs.

"The BB386 EVO cranks are compatible with almost every BB shell standard (BSA, BB30, PF30, BB86)," says Jason Miles of FSA. "We currently make bottom brackets and adaptors for BSA, BB30, and PF30 frames and are working on BB86 bottom brackets. Frames with BB386 EVO shells should be able to run almost any crank. We currently make adaptors to fit Shimano, Campagnolo, and SRAM 24mm spindle cranks."

While the surrounding frames should be stiffer than those built around narrower BB/PF30 or threaded shells, Miles admits that the BB386 EVO crankset actually takes a slight step back in that regard, but only when viewed independently of the entire system. The straighter arms also have less ankle and heel clearance than those narrower formats.

"Because the crank arms are straighter, we can make them lighter then BB30 ones," he says. "But because the BB386 EVO spindles are longer than BB30 ones, they aren't as stiff. Total stiffness is not a measure of crank stiffness alone, though. When you factor in the stiffness gains from a wider shell, the overall stiffness will be highest when BB386 EVO frames meet BB386 EVO cranks."

T47

Designed in conjunction with Chris King and Argonaut Cycles, T47 – announced in 2015 – is the most recent offering hoping to become the next standard. T47 bottom brackets, aka Thread Fit 30i, use the same 46mm internal diameter as PressFit 30, but they thread into frames rather than being pressed in.

Chris King and Argonaut Cycles' threaded T47 is the latest BB on the block

The design comes about as a solution to the well documented creaking issues associated with oversized press-fit systems. While these issues are near always the result of poor tolerances, the T47 standard promises to fix the creaking issue without sacrificing the benefits of an oversized interface.

As it stands, this new standard may just become the hot the new thing among smaller manufacturers of metal bikes. But the need for a heavier and potentially weaker metal interface is likely too large a limitation for mass-produced carbon bikes.

Pros: Vast crankset compatibility, open standard, threaded design easy to service and prevent from creaking, same dimensions as PF30

Am I stuck with what I've got forever?

As you've likely noticed in the footnotes above, most of the bottom bracket standards offer a fairly wide range of options in terms of crankset choice. And, not surprisingly, several companies are at the ready to help you make those changes.

Numerous adaptors are available to convert from one bottom bracket system to another

Changing between setups typically requires some type of adapter. Or, in ideal cases, bottom bracket bearing assemblies that directly convert from one system to another, such as Praxis Works' outstanding BB/PF30-to-24mm assembly.

In general, though, the guideline is the same: try to minimize the number of parts involved. More parts added on top of each other results in greater tolerance stack-ups, plus more interfaces that could potentially creak.

Why are there so many bottom bracket standards?

There's nothing wrong with threaded bottom brackets, per se, and it's worth noting that none of the proponents of alternative systems cast threaded systems as being fatally flawed. They do, however, note the system's inherent limitations in terms of frame design, which is why more companies — particularly ones striving to be on the cutting edge — continue to embrace non-threaded formats.

How companies decide to go about that — and precisely what design features they want — is the real issue, because everyone seems to have their own ideas on how to achieve the same goals (less weight, more stiffness, and lower manufacturing costs).

"The explosion of bottom bracket standards reflects the various design objectives and manufacturing competencies of individual frame and component brands," says Eric Doyne, US PR representative for Shimano. "Shimano sees and values the importance for consumers to be able to easily source a frequent consumption article like the bottom bracket.

"The explosion of standards is not good for consumers or dealers," Doyne continues. "The bottom line is that bike companies are driving the standards. Threaded systems have very few limitations — they are easily cleaned and repaired at the shop level, and they do not affect the bearing fit."

In concept, at least, all of the standards we've covered are functionally sound. But the realities of relaxing tolerances can create other issues.

For example, save for Shimano, Rotor, Specialized, and some FSA models that use adjustable effective crank arm-to-crank arm distance, most of these alternative systems require wave washers or compressible spacers to account for inherent shell width variability (Magic Motorcycle used precision micro-shims back in the day, and some third parties offer similar systems for modern cranksets).

The explosion of new bottom bracket standards has also required the introduction of new tools to go with them

Things work okay if the installation is done correctly. But, if not, you could still end up with lateral play under load (possibly resulting in dropped chains) or bearings that are too heavily preloaded (decreasing bearing lifespan).

Weather-sealing can be a problem, too. Integrated cup and bearing systems at least have the potential for good barriers against dirt and moisture, depending on the design, but bottom bracket standards that rely solely on bearings pressed directly into the frame sometimes have to make do with the typically inadequate seals on the bearing cartridges themselves.

Some designs even offer discipline-specific advantages. For example, BB30 offers the narrowest potential Q-factor, while wider shells allow for greater chainstay spacing, for more tire clearance on mountain bike hardtails and cyclocross frames.

Finally, there are aesthetic considerations. Road companies often gravitate towards BB30 for the sleek, narrow form factor, while smaller builders dealing primarily in steel might prefer the more proportional look of a threaded shell. Carbon companies looking to maximize their stiffness (or stiffness-to-weight) figures generally just want to go bigger in some way.

As to which bottom bracket standard is 'best', the answer is undeniably straightforward: it depends.

Preferred Terrain: Up in the Colorado high-country where the singletrack is still single, the dirt is still brown, and the aspens are in full bloom. Also, those perfect stretches of pavement where the road snakes across the mountainside like an artist's paintbrush.